The way I see it, when it comes to the issue of the US pulling out of Iraq, they're damned if they do, and damned if they don't. The Bush administration is coming under increased pressure from the American public to pull out of Iraq. Midterm elections are looming on the horizon, military casualties are approaching the 2000 count, the insurgency is showing no sign of abating, and recent public opinion polls are putting Bush at his second lowest ratings ever, I think around 43%.

If Bush keeps his troops in Iraq, he risks further lack of support back home, and more casualties. If he removes US forces now, the insurgents will have won, and the political situation in Iraq will continue to destabilise. I have never agreed with anything that Bush has said, or with any of his major policy decisions, but, for the first time ever, I agree with him now, when he says, "pulling the troops out would send a terrible signal to the enemy." Not so much because I care about his message to the "enemy", but because I think that he owes it to the Iraqi people to ensure he provides them with the freedom and democracy he promised. To pull out now, and leave the Iraqi's to fend for themselves amid the political volatility and violence that he caused, no matter how unwittingly, would be a complete traversty of justice.